Jonathan Rhys Meyers is to star in the film adaptation of Sebastian Barry’s The Secret Scripture, the Irish Film & Television Network reports. Thaddeus O’Sullivan is to direct and Jessica Chastain and Vanessa Redgrave will play the lead roles in the movie, which is now in pre-production with filming due to take place this summer on location in Wicklow and Sligo.
The Secret Scripture, the fictional account of 100-year-old Roseanne McNulty, a patient in Roscommon regional mental hospital, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the Costa Book of the Year and Novel of the Year at the Irish Book Awards.
Barry’s new novel, The Temporary Gentleman, is published on April 3rd and will be reviewed by Denis Donoghue in The Irish Times this Saturday.
Shooting has already begun on John Crowley’s film version of Colm Tóibín’s Brooklyn, based on Nick Hornby’s adaptation. Brooklyn won the 2009 Costa Novel Award, was shortlisted for the 2011 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and was longlisted for the 2009 Man Booker Prize
Saoirse Ronan plays Eilis Lacey, a young Irish immigrant in 1950s New York whose relationship with Italian plumber Tony, played by Emory Cohen, is threatened when a family tragedy calls her home to her native Enniscorthy. where she falls for Jim, a charming local, played by Domhnall Gleeson. The film also features Julie Walters and Jim Broadbent.
